Optimised Radio over Fibre Links for Next Generation Radio Access Networks

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonOptical fibre has become the dominant theme of transmission in long haul, high data rate communication systems due to its tremendous bandwidth and low loss. Radio over Fibre (RoF) technology facilitates the seamless integration between wireless and optical communication systems and found to be the most promising solution to meet the exponential bandwidth demands expected for the upcoming years. However, the main bit-rate/distance limitation in RoF systems is the chromatic dispersion. In this thesis, the two generations of RoF technologies, namely Analogue RoF (ARoF) and Digital RoF (DRoF) are investigated. The overall aim of this research is to optimise the optical bandwidth utilisation of these two approaches for a typical transmission of the fronthaul link proposed in the next generation Centralised Radio Access Network (C-RAN). Consequently, a number of physical layer design scenarios for the optimised transmission of the Radio Frequency (RF) signals over a Standards Single Mode Fibre (SSMF) are demonstrated. Firstly, for an ARoF transmission, where the analogue RF signals are transported over SSMF using an optical carrier, a bidirectional link transmitting four Downlink/Uplink channels in a chromatic dispersion limited scenario is designed. Simulation results have shown a clear constellation diagram of a 2.5 Gb/s RF signal transmission over 120 km fibre length. Secondly, a DRoF system with reduced optical bandwidth occupancy is proposed. This system employs an optical Duobinary transmission to the digitised RF signal at the transmitter side to reduce its spectrum and to address the chromatic dispersion effect, simultaneously. Simulation results demonstrate the capability of the proposed system to maintain high-quality transmission of the digitised signals over 70 km of fibre distance without dispersion compensation requirements. Finally, an advanced DRoF transmission link based on integrating digital Optical Single Sideband (OSSB) transmission with Duobinary encoding scheme is designed. Simulation results have clearly verified system’s robustness against transmission impairments and have better performances in terms of the obtained BER and EVM with respect to the 3GPP standardised values. Moreover, the results show that both transmission distance and power budget are furtherly improved in comparison with two other digital transmission scenarios

Generation and optimization of picosecond optical pulses for use in hybrid WDM/OTDM networks

The burgeoning demand for broadband services such as database queries, home shopping, video-on-demand, remote education, telemedicine and videoconferencing will push the existing networks to their limits. This demand was mainly fueled by the brisk proliferation of Personal Computers (PC) together with the exceptional increases in their storage capacity and processing capabilities and the widespread availability of the internet. Hence the necessity, to develop high-speed optical technologies in order to construct large capacity networks, arises. Two of the most popular multiplexing techniques available in the optical domain that are used in the building of such high capacity networks, are Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Optical Time Division Multiplexing (OTDM). However merging these two techniques to form very high-speed hybrid WDM/OTDM networks brings about the merits of both multiplexing technologies. This thesis examines the development of one of the key components (picosecond optical pulses) associated to such high-speed systems. Recent analysis has shown that RZ format is superior to conventional NRZ systems as it is easier to compensate for dispersion and nonlinear effects in the fibre by employing soliton-like propagation. In addition to this development, the use of wavelength tunability for dynamic provisioning is another area that is actively researched on. Self-seeding of a gain switched Fabry Perot laser is shown to one of the simplest and cost effective methods of generating, transform limited optical pulses that are wavelength tunable over very wide ranges. One of the vital characteristics of the above mentioned pulse sources, is their Side Mode Suppression Ratio (SMSR). This thesis examines in detail how the pulse SMSR affects the performance of high-speed WDM/OTDM systems that employ self-seeded gain-switched pulse sources

Geração e distribuição de sinais ROF

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesO trabalho apresentado nesta dissertação incidiu no estudo de técnicas de geração e distribuição de sinais rádio sobre fibra (RoF). Numa primeira fase estudaram-se os vários componentes associados ao canal óptico, para se perceber de que forma cada um deles afecta os sinais RoF que se propagam, e quais serão as principais limitações associadas. No seguimento desse estudo inicial, efectuou-se trabalho experimental, de transmissão de sinais rádio (3G) sobre um sistema óptico mono-canal, para se observar e verificar os fenómenos limitativos identificados anteriormente. Posteriormente, foi abordada a geração de sinais rádio por multiplicação de frequência no domínio óptico, com reduzido custo e complexidade, utilizando um modulador Mach-Zhender em regime não-linear, considerando diferentes formatos de modulação. As simulações efectuadas incidiram na optimização das topologias e parâmetros associados aos diferentes componentes envolvidos, em particular na emissão e recepção. Este trabalho serviu de base ao apresentado no capítulo 5, em que se simulou e optimizou um cenário de distribuição em rede óptica passiva multi-canal, de sinais OFDM, compatíveis com UWB, gerados por multiplicação de frequência no domínio óptico.The work presented in this dissertation focused on the study of techniques for the generation and distribution of radio signals over fiber (RoF). Initially the various components associated to the optical channel were studied, to conclude how each of them affects the propagated RoF signals, and what are the key limitations associated. Following this initial study, experimental work was carried out, the transmission of radio signals (3G) on a single-channel optical system was studied, to observe and verify the limiting phenomena identified earlier. The next step was the generation of radio signals by frequency multiplication in the optical domain, with reduced cost and complexity, by using a Mach-Zehnder modulator in non-linear regime, considering different modulation formats. Several simulations were performed, focusing on optimizing topologies and parameters associated to the different components involved, especially in the transmitter and receiver. The performed work was the basis to the concepts presented in Chapter 5, in which a distribution scenario involving a passive optical network with multi-channel OFDM signals, compatible with UWB, generated by frequency multiplication in the optical domain was simulated and optimized

Design and applications of advanced optical modulation formats for optical metro/access transmission systems.

光纖通信技術與光網絡在過去三十年間極大地改變了人們的生活。雖然整個光通信行業因為2000年互聯網泡沫的破滅受到了影響，但近年來由於高清電視，移動多媒體和社交網絡的興盛，互聯網對通信網絡傳輸帶寬的需求達到了前所未有的高度，進而推動了光通信行業的再一次興盛。站在行業的高度來看，寬帶接入網無疑是推動行業發展的最主要領域。而實現寬帶接入網的最主要技術則是無源光網絡技術。無源光網絡的本質是一個樹型拓撲的光網絡，其主要的傳輸光纖可被多用戶共享，且在中央基站和用戶之間無任何有源器件，從而大大降低了網絡的成本。然而，在具體實踐中，仍然有許多的技術難題需要解決，例如：無色光網絡單元、突發性傳輸、全雙工傳輸、長距離無源光網絡和網絡功能集成等。這些技術需求亦反應了市場對通信技術發展的要求，及“更快，更便宜，更灵活“。為滿足無源光網絡的技術要求，研究者們從不同的角度提出了各種解決方案，研究領域囊括光傳輸技術、新型器件、系統結構、網絡協議等等。本論文研究從傳輸碼型的角度來解決上述一項或幾項問題。研究碼型包括雙二進制反歸零碼，雙二進制曼切斯特碼，還有常規曼切斯特碼。研究內容則包括上述碼型的產生、接收、傳輸特性和系統應用等等。論文首貳章為概要和背景技術介紹，其餘幾章則按照不同的碼型分類討論。本論文第一項研究課題為雙二進制反歸零碼。相比傳統的歸零碼和反歸零碼，雙二進制反歸零碼具有更大的色散容限，且每個傳輸符號均有能量。我們先研究了它的優勢，調製/解調方法，而後研究了該碼型在無源光網絡中的具體應用，包括10‐Gb/s 全光組播系統和基於重調製的80 公里長距離波分複用無源光網絡系統。第二項研究課題為雙二進制曼切斯特碼型，該碼型的優勢包括較大的時鐘分量，窄帶寬，無直流分量等。我們提出了一種基於直接調製的雙二進制曼切斯特碼產生方法。該方法具有高效，低價，高輸出功率等特點。基於該雙二進制曼切斯特碼發射機，我們實現了70 公里雙向傳輸的波分複用無源光網絡。該系統下行傳輸採用雙二進制曼切斯特碼型，上行傳輸採用直接調製的反射式半導體激光器，所以系統成本大大降低。最後，我們研究了電色散補償技術對於傳統曼切斯特碼型的傳輸性能的改善。所使用的電均衡技術包括前向均衡器、判決反饋均衡器和極大似然估計均衡器。通過離線處理的方法，我們對曼切斯特碼型在三種均衡器下的傳輸性能進行了實驗驗證。研究內容包括前向均衡器和判決反饋均衡器抽頭數的優化、不同採樣率下系統性能、極大似然估計中狀態機個數的影響和不同的曼切斯特接收機的影響等等。The increasing demands for bandwidth have aroused a myriad of industry and academic activities in developing high-speed and cost-effective optical networks,among which optical broad band access networks was the main driving force for such growth in recent years. The most promising solution to optical broadband access network is the passive optical network (PON), which is a point-to-multipoint tree-topology network that connects optical line terminal (OLT) with many optical network units (ONUs) via a long fiber feeder and many short distribution fibers. Promising the concept it is, it raises many detailed technical challenges, such as colorless ONUs, burst mode transmission, bi-directional transmission with mitigated backscattering noise, long-reach PON, and integrating network functionalities. All of the technical requirements are motivated by the “original requirements“ of telecommunication -- faster, cheaper, and more robust.To fulfill the technical requirements, different researchers take different angles to design system and to study the enabling technologies. For example, devices, system architectures, network protocols, etc. In this thesis research, we have tried to deal with one or multiple problems by employing advanced modulation formats for the optical signals. In particular, we have studied IRZ-duobinary, Manchester-duobinary, and Manchester formats, including the modulation/demodulation techniques, transmission properties, and system applications. The research topics are classified according to the type of modulation formats.In the first topic, IRZ-duobinary format is proposed for optical signal transmission. It has desirable properties of large dispersion tolerance (as compared to conventional RZ/IRZ) and finite optical power in each bit. In this study, we firstly show the advantages of IRZ-duobinary and the corresponding modulation techniques. Then, we demonstrate a 10-Gb/s per channel optical multicast overlay scheme and an 80-km-reach system with re-modulated ONU, both in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) PON.In the second topic, Manchester-duobinary format, which has the advantages including easy clock/level recovery, compressed bandwidth, and zero DC component, is studied. We propose an efficient and cost-effective Manchester-duobinary transmitter by properly modulating a chirp managed laser (CML) with electrical Manchester signal. Then, a cost-effective CLS 70-km-Reach full-duplex WDM-PON with downstream 10-Gb/s Manchester-duobinary signal and upstream 1.25-Gb/s re-modulated NRZ-OOK signal is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. This design simultaneously solves the problems of colorless ONU, bi-directional transmission, and long-reach, using cost-effective system design and devices.Finally, we investigate the performance of electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) technique on 10-Gb/s Manchester coded optical signal, so as to further improve its dispersion tolerance and may enables its applications in long-reach PON. In this study, feed forward equalizer (FFE), decision feedback equalizer (DFE), and maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) are employed as the equalizers Utilizing off-line signal processing, the performance of different equalizers with different parameters (number of taps, sampling rates, number of states, etc.) under both cases of single-ended and balanced detection are studied and compared. Experimental results show that the transmission distance of Manchester coded signal can be increased by a factor of three with four-sample-per-symbol FFE-DFE.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Liu, Zhixin.Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-148).Abstract also in Chinese.Acknowledgement --- p.1Abstract --- p.3摘要 --- p.5Table of contents --- p.7List of figures and tables --- p.13Chapter Chapter 1. --- IntroductionChapter 1.1 --- Optical Broadband Access --- p.18Chapter 1.1.1 --- Bandwidth requirement --- p.19Chapter 1.1.2 --- Passive optical networks --- p.22Chapter 1.2 --- Research Challenge of Next-Generation Optical Access Network --- p.25Chapter 1.2.1 --- Colorless ONU --- p.25Chapter 1.2.2 --- Burst Mode Transmission --- p.27Chapter 1.2.3 --- Backscattering Noise in PON --- p.28Chapter 1.2.4 --- Long-Reach Access Network --- p.30Chapter 1.2.5 --- Enriching Network Functionalities --- p.31Chapter 1.3 --- Major contribution of this thesis --- p.32Chapter 1.3.1 --- IRZ-duobinary transmitter and application --- p.32Chapter 1.3.2 --- Manchester-duobinary transmitter and application --- p.33Chapter 1.3.3 --- Receiver with electronic equalizer for Manchester signal --- p.34Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of this Thesis --- p.35Chapter Chapter 2. --- Optical Modulation Technique and Transmission ImpairmentsChapter 2.1 --- Optical Modulation techniques --- p.38Chapter 2.1.1 --- Chirp managed laser --- p.38Chapter 2.1.2 --- Mach-Zehnder modulator --- p.41Chapter 2.2 --- Transmission Impairments --- p.47Chapter 2.2.1 --- Noise --- p.47Chapter 2.2.2 --- Chromatic dispersion --- p.49Chapter 2.2.3 --- Fiber nonlinearity --- p.50Chapter 2.3 --- Impairment Mitigation Techniques --- p.51Chapter 2.3.1 --- In-line compensation techniques --- p.51Chapter 2.3.2 --- Post-compensation techniques --- p.52Chapter Chapter 3. --- Optical Multicast and Re-modulation Based on Inverse-RZ-duobinary TransmitterChapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.53Chapter 3.2 --- IRZ-duobinary transmitter --- p.55Chapter 3.2.1 --- Generation of IRZ-duobinary format --- p.55Chapter 3.2.2 --- Comparison of different configurations of IRZ-duobinary generation --- p.56Chapter 3.3 --- IRZ-duobinary format for optical multicast in WDM-PON --- p.60Chapter 3.3.1 --- Optical multicast in WDM-PON --- p.60Chapter 3.3.2 --- Proposed system architecture --- p.61Chapter 3.3.3 --- Experimental demonstration of the proposed optical multicast system --- p.65Chapter 3.4 --- IRZ-duobinary for long-reach PON --- p.68Chapter 3.4.1 --- Long-reach PON using DI based IRZ-duobinary transmitter --- p.69Chapter 3.4.2 --- Long-reach PON using CML based IRZ-duobinary transmitter --- p.75Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.81Chapter Chapter 4. --- Manchester-duobinary Transmitter for Bi-directional WDM-PONChapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.83Chapter 4.2 --- Manchester-duobinary transmitter --- p.85Chapter 4.2.1 --- Mach-Zehnder modulator based Manchester-duobinary transmitter --- p.85Chapter 4.2.2 --- Chirp managed laser based Manchester-duobinary transmitter --- p.87Chapter 4.3 --- Rayleigh noise mitigated bi-directional WDM-PON based on Manchester-duobinary transmitter --- p.94Chapter 4.3.1 --- CLS Bi-directional long-reach WDM-PON. --- p.94Chapter 4.3.2 --- Proposed system architecture --- p.97Chapter 4.3.3 --- Experimental demonstration --- p.99Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.102Chapter Chapter 5. --- Electronic Equalizer for Manchester Coded SignalChapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.103Chapter 5.2 --- Electronic equalizer for CD compensation --- p.104Chapter 5.2.1 --- Channel model --- p.104Chapter 5.2.2 --- FFE-DFE --- p.106Chapter 5.2.3 --- MLSE --- p.107Chapter 5.3 --- FFE-DFE for Manchester signal --- p.109Chapter 5.3.1 --- Experimental setup for CD compensation of Manchester signal using FFE-DFE --- p.110Chapter 5.3.2 --- Results and discussion --- p.112Chapter 5.4 --- MLSE equalizer for Manchester signal --- p.121Chapter 5.4.1 --- Experimental setup for CD compensation of Manchester format using MLSE --- p.121Chapter 5.4.1 --- Results and discussion --- p.122Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.124Chapter Chapter 6. --- ConclusionChapter 6.1 --- Summary of this thesis --- p.125Chapter 6.2 --- Future work --- p.127References --- p.128Chapter Appendix: --- p.149Chapter A. --- List of abbreviations --- p.149Chapter B. --- List of publications --- p.15

Characterization and design of coherent optical OFDM transmission systems based on Hartley Transform

Nowadays, due to huge deployment of optical transport networks, a continuous increase towards higher data rates up to 100 Gb/s and beyond is observed. Furthermore, an evolution of the current optical networks is forecasted, acquiring new functionalities, e.g. elastic spectrum assignment for the optical signals. The target for these new challenges in transmission is to find techniques ready to deal with a growth of demand for bandwidth continuously asked by network operators, for whom the standard systems do not meet the new functionalities while higher rates are being set up. A solution for covering all of those needs is to adapt techniques capable to deal with such enormous data rates, and ensuring the same high efficiency for long distances and mitigate the optical impairments accumulated along the transmission path. Additionally, these transmission techniques are expected to provide some degree of flexibility, in order to enhance the network flexibility. A promising technology that can fully cope with those requires is the coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM provides several advantages, namely high sensitivity and spectral efficiency, simple integration and possibility to fully recover a signal in phase, amplitude and polarization. These systems are composed by digital signal processing (DSP) blocks that easily process data and can equalize and compensate the main impairments, providing high tolerance for dispersion effects. However, CO-OFDM systems are not free from drawbacks. Their high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduce their tolerance to nonlinearities. Furthermore, CO-OFDM systems are sensitive to any frequency shift and phase offset. Hence, a constant envelope optical OFDM (CE-OFDM) is proposed for significantly reducing the PAPR and solving high sensitivity to nonlinear impairments. It consists in a phase modulated discrete multi-tone signal, which is coherently detected at the receiver side. An alternative transform, the discrete Hartley transform, is proposed to speed up calculations in the DSP and eliminate the need to have a Hermitian symmetry. The optical CE-OFDM by its unique flexibility and rate scalability turns out as a great technology applicable to different configurations, ranging from access to core networks. In case of access solutions, several cases are investigated. First, the optical CE-OFDM is applied for radio access network signals delivery by means of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) overlay in deployed access architecture. A decomposed radio access network is deployed over an existing standard passive optical network (PON), capable to avoid interference and cross talks with access signals between network clients. The system exhibited narrow channel spacing, while reducing losses fed into the access equipment path. Next, a full duplex 10 Gb/s bidirectional PON transmission over a single wavelength with RSOA based ONU is investigated. The key point of that system is the upstream transmission, which is achieved re-modulating the phase of a downstream intensity modulated signal after proper saturation. The reported sensitivity performances show a power budget matching the PON standards and an OSNR easy to reach on non-amplified PON. Next, a flexible metropolitan area network of up to 100km with traffic add/drop using WDM is investigated. There the narrowing effect of the optical filters is studied. Finally, an elastic upgrade of the existing Telefonica model of the Spanish national core network is proposed. For that, the transceiver architecture is proposed to be operated featuring polarization multiplexing. Respect to the existing fixed grid, the flexible approach (enabled by the CE-OFDM transceiver) results into reduced bandwidth occupancy and low OSNR requirement.Hoy en día, debido al gran despliegue de las redes de ópticas de transporte, se espera un aumento continuado hacia mayores velocidades de datos, hasta 100 Gb/s y más allá. Por otra parte, la evolución que se prevé para las redes ópticas actuales, incluye la adquisición de nuevas funcionalidades, por ejemplo, la asignación del espectro de forma elástica para las señales ópticas. Por tanto, el claro desafío en cuanto a las tecnologías de transmisión es encontrar técnicas preparadas para hacer frente a un crecimiento de la demanda de ancho de banda; demanda que continuamente se incrementa por parte de los operadores de red, para quienes los sistemas estándar no se acaban de ajustar a las nuevas funcionalidades que esperan para la red. Una solución para cubrir todas estas necesidades es la adaptación de técnicas capaces de hacer frente a estas velocidades de datos enormes, y garantizar el mismo nivel de eficiencia para las largas distancias y mitigar las deficiencias ópticas acumuladas a lo largo de la ruta de transmisión. Además, se espera que estas técnicas de transmisión puedan proporcionar cierto grado de flexibilidad, a fin de mejorar y hacer más eficiente la gestión de la red. Una tecnología prometedora que puede hacer frente a estos requisitos es lo que se llama multiplexación por división de frecuencias ortogonales, combinado con la detección óptica coherente (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM ofrece varias ventajas, entre otras: alta sensibilidad y eficiencia espectral y, sobre todo, la posibilidad de recuperar por completo de una señal en fase, la amplitud y la polarización. Estos sistemas están compuestos por bloques de procesado de señales digitales (DSP) que permiten detectar los datos fácilmente así como también compensar las principales degradaciones, proporcionando alta tolerancia a los efectos de dispersión. Sin embargo, los sistemas CO-OFDM no están exentos de inconvenientes. Su alta relación de potencia de pico a potencia media (PAPR) reduce sensiblemente la tolerancia no linealidades. Por otra parte, los sistemas CO-OFDM son sensibles a cualquier cambio de frecuencia y desplazamiento de fase. Por tanto, se propone un sistema OFDM de envolvente constante (CE-OFDM) para reducir significativamente la PAPR y solucionar la alta sensibilidad a las degradaciones no lineales. Consiste en una señal OFDM modulada en fase, que se detecta coherentemente en el receptor. Una transformada alternativa, la transformada discreta de Hartley, se propone para acelerar los cálculos en el DSP. El sistema CE-OFDM por su flexibilidad y escalabilidad única, resulta una tecnología aplicable a diferentes escenarios, que van desde las redes de acceso hasta las redes troncales. En el caso de las soluciones de acceso, se investigan varios casos. En primer lugar, el CE-OFDM aplica para el desarrollo y soporte de datos de una red radio, reutilizando una red óptica de acceso ya desplegada. A continuación, se investiga la transmisión bidireccional dúplex a 10 Gb / s sobre una sola longitud de onda empleando un RSOA a las unidades de usuario. El punto clave de este sistema es la transmisión en sentido ascendente, que se consigue re-modulando la fase de una señal de intensidad modulada después de saturar de forma adecuada. A continuación, se estudia una red de área metropolitana flexible de hasta 100 km. Concretamente el efecto de concatenación de filtros ópticos es el objetivo de este estudio. Finalmente, se propone una actualización elástica del modelo de Telefónica I+D para la red troncal española. Por ello, se propone operar el CE-OFDM en multiplexación de polarización. Los resultados muestran que esta combinación reduce sensiblemente el empleo de ancho de banda esto como los requisitos de los enlaces transmisión, reduciendo también los costes tanto de desarrollo como de operación y mantenimiento de la red.Avui dia, a causa del gran desplegament de les xarxes de òptiques de transport, s'espera un augment continuat cap a majors velocitats de dades, fins a 100 Gb/s i més enllà. D'altra banda, l'evolució que es preveu per a les xarxes òptiques actuals, inclou l'adquisició de noves funcionalitats, per exemple, assignació de l'espectre de forma elàstica per als senyals òptics. Per tant, el clar desafiament pel que fa a les tecnologies de transmissió és trobar tècniques preparades per fer front a un creixement de la demanda d'ample de banda; demanda que contínuament es fa per part dels operadors de xarxa, per als qui els sistemes estàndard no s'acaben d'ajustar a les noves funcionalitats que esperen per a la xarxa. Una solució per a cobrir totes aquestes necessitats és l'adaptació de tècniques capaces de fer front a aquestes velocitats de dades enormes, i garantir el mateix nivell d'eficiència per a les llargues distàncies i mitigar les deficiències òptiques acumulades al llarg de la ruta de transmissió. A més, s'espera que aquestes tècniques de transmissió puguin proporcionar cert grau de flexibilitat, per tal de millorar i tornar més eficient la gestió de la xarxa. Una tecnologia prometedora que pot fer front a aquests requisits és el que s'anomena multiplexació per divisió de freqüències ortogonals, combinat amb la detecció òptica coherent (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM ofereix diversos avantatges, entre altres: alta sensibilitat i eficiència espectral i, sobretot, la possibilitat de recuperar per complet d'una senyal en fase, l'amplitud i la polarització. Aquests sistemes estan compostos per blocs de processament de senyals digitals (DSP) que permeten detectar les dades fàcilment així com també compensar les principals degradacions, proporcionant alta tolerància pels efectes de dispersió. No obstant això, els sistemes CO-OFDM no estan exempts d'inconvenients. La seva alta relació de potència de pic a potència mitjana (PAPR) redueix sensiblement la tolerància a no linealitats. D'altra banda, els sistemes de CO-OFDM són sensibles a qualsevol canvi de freqüència i desplaçament de fase. Per tant, es proposa un sistema OFDM d'envolvent constant (CE-OFDM) per a reduir significativament la PAPR i solucionar l'alta sensibilitat a les degradacions no lineals. Consisteix en un senyal OFDM modulat en fase, que es detecta coherentment en el receptor. Una transformada alternativa, la transformada discreta d'Hartley, es proposa accelerar els càlculs en el DSP. El sistema CE-OFDM per la seva flexibilitat i escalabilitat única, resulta una tecnologia aplicable a diferents escenaris, que van des de les xarxes d'accés fins a les xarxes troncals. En el cas de les solucions d'accés, s'investiguen diversos casos. En primer lloc, el CE-OFDM s'aplica per al desplegament i suport de dades d'una xarxa radio, reutilitzant una xarxa òptica d'accés ja desplegada. A continuació, s'investiga la transmissió bidireccional dúplex a 10 Gb/s sobre una sola longitud d'ona emprant un RSOA a les unitats d'usuari. El punt clau d'aquest sistema és la transmissió en sentit ascendent, que s'aconsegueix re-modulant la fase d'un senyal d'intensitat modulada després de saturar-la de forma adequada. A continuació, s'estudia una xarxa d'àrea metropolitana flexible de fins a 100 km. Concretament l'efecte de concatenació de filtres òptics és l'objectiu d'aquest estudi. Finalment, es proposa una actualització elàstica del model de Telefónica I+D per a la xarxa troncal espanyola. Per això, es proposa operar el CE-OFDM en multiplexació de polarització. Els resultats mostren que aquesta combinació redueix sensiblement l'ocupació d'ample de banda això com també els requisits dels enllaços transmissió, reduint també els costos tant de desplegament com d'operació i manteniment de la xarxa

All-optical processing systems based on semiconductor optical amplifiers

Doutoramento em Engenharia ElectrotécnicaNesta tese investigam-se e desenvolvem-se dispositivos para processamento integralmente óptico em redes com multiplexagem densa por divisão no comprimento de onda (DWDM). O principal objectivo das redes DWDM é transportar e distribuir um espectro óptico densamente multiplexado com sinais de débito binário ultra elevado, ao longo de centenas ou milhares de quilómetros de fibra óptica. Estes sinais devem ser transportados e encaminhados no domínio óptico de forma transparente, sem conversões óptico-eléctrico-ópticas (OEO), evitando as suas limitações e custos. A tecnologia baseada em amplificadores ópticos de semicondutor (SOA) é promissora graças aos seus efeitos não-lineares ultra-rápidos e eficientes, ao potencial para integração, reduzido consumo de potência e custos. Conversores de comprimento de onda são o elemento óptico básico para aumentar a capacidade da rede e evitar o bloqueio de comprimentos de onda. Neste trabalho, são estudados e analisados experimentalmente métodos para aumentar a largura de banda operacional de conversores de modulação cruzada de ganho (XGM), a fim de permitir a operação do SOA para além das suas limitações físicas. Conversão de um comprimento de onda, e conversão simultânea de múltiplos comprimentos de onda são testadas, usando interferómetros de Mach-Zehnder com SOA. As redes DWDM de alto débito binário requerem formatos de modulação optimizados, com elevada tolerância aos efeitos nefastos da fibra, e reduzida ocupação espectral. Para esse efeito, é vital desenvolver conversores integramente ópticos de formatos de modulação, a fim de permitir a interligação entre as redes já instaladas, que operam com modulação de intensidade, e as redes modernas, que utilizam formatos de modulação avançados. No âmbito deste trabalho é proposto um conversor integralmente óptico de formato entre modulação óptica de banda lateral dupla e modulação óptica de banda lateral residual; este é caracterizado através de simulação e experimentalmente. Adicionalmente, é proposto um conversor para formato de portadora suprimida, através de XGM e modulação cruzada de fase. A interligação entre as redes de transporte com débito binário ultra-elevado e as redes de acesso com débito binário reduzido requer conversão óptica de formato de impulso entre retorno-a-zero (RZ) e não-RZ. São aqui propostas e investigadas duas estruturas distintas: uma baseada em filtragem desalinhada do sinal convertido por XGM; uma segunda utiliza as dinâmicas do laser interno de um SOA com ganho limitado (GC-SOA). Regeneração integralmente óptica é essencial para reduzir os custos das redes. Dois esquemas distintos são utilizados para regeneração: uma estrutura baseada em MZI-SOA, e um método no qual o laser interno de um GC-SOA é modulado com o sinal distorcido a regenerar. A maioria dos esquemas referidos é testada experimentalmente a 40 Gb/s, com potencial para aplicação a débitos binários superiores, demonstrado que os SOA são uma tecnologia basilar para as redes ópticas do futuro.This thesis investigates and develops all-optical processing devices for wavelength division multiplexing networks (DWM) of the future. The ultimate goal of optical networks is to transport and deliver a densely multiplexed spectrum, populated by ultra-high bit rate signals over hundreds or thousands of kilometers of optical fiber. Such signals should be transported and routed transparently in the optical domain, without recurring to optic-electro-optic (OEO) conversions, avoiding its limitations and costs. Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based technology is a promising building block due to its inherent ultra-fast and efficient non-linear effects, potential for integration, low power consumption and cost. Wavelength converters are the basic optical functionality to increase the network throughput and avoid wavelength blocking. Methods to increase the operation bandwidth of cross-gain modulation (XGM) converters are studied and experimentally assessed to enable operation beyond the physical constraints of SOA. Single and multi-wavelength conversion exploiting crossphase modulation (XPM) in Mach-Zehnder interferometer with semiconductor optical amplifiers (MZI-SOA) is tested. High bit rate DWDM networks require optimized modulation formats with enhanced tolerance to fiber impairments and reduced spectral tolerance. As a consequence, it is crucial to develop all-optical modulation formats between legacy on-off-keying networks and networks employing advanced modulation formats. An all-optical format converter between optical double sideband (ODSB) and optical vestigial sideband (OVSB) based on SOA self-phase modulation is proposed and thoroughly characterized by simulations and experimental tests. A converter, which uses a mix of XGM and XPM to allow simultaneous pulse and modulation format conversion to the carrier suppressed format, is proposed. The interface between ultra-high bit rate transport networks and lower bit rate access networks requires optical pulse format conversions between return-tozero (RZ) and non-return-to-zero (NRZ). Two different structures are proposed and investigated. The first is based on detuned filtering of XPM converted signal; while the second uses the dynamics of the internal laser of a gainclamped SOA. All-optical regeneration is one of the most sought functionalities to reduce network costs. Regeneration is achieved in this work through two simple setups: a MZI-SOA based structure, and a method in which the internal laser from a GC-SOA is modulated with the input distorted signal. Most applications are experimentally validated at 40 Gb/s, with potential for even higher bit rates, demonstrating that SOA can be one of the key elements for the next generation of optical networks

Advanced performance monitoring in all-optical networks.

This thesis investigates advanced optical performance monitoring approaches for future all-optical networks using the synchronous sampling technique. This allows for improved signal quality estimation, fault management and resource allocation through improved control of transmission at the physical layer level. Because of the increased transparency in next generation networks, it is not possible to verify the quality of the signal at each node because of the limited number of optical-electrical-optical conversions, and therefore new non-intrusive mechanisms to achieve signal quality monitoring are needed. The synchronous sampling technique can be deployed to estimate the bit error rate, considered an important quality measure, and hence can be utilised to certify service level agreements between operators and customers. This method also has fault identification capabilities by analysing the shapes of the obtained histograms. Each impairment affects the histogram in a specific way, giving it a unique shape that can be used for root cause analysis. However, chromatic dispersion and polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) can have similar signatures on the histograms obtained at decision times. A novel technique to unambiguously discriminate between these two sources of degradation is proposed in this work. It consists of varying the decision times so that sampling also occurs at both edges of the eye diagram. This approach is referred to as three-section eye sampling technique. In addition, it is shown that this method can be used to accurately assess first order polarisation mode dispersion and can simultaneously estimate the differential group delay (DGD) and the power splitting ratio between the two states of polarisation. Since synchronous sampling is employed, the effect of PMD on the sampling times is also investigated. For the first time, closed form relationship between the shift in sampling time, the DGD and the power splitting ratio between the polarisation states is obtained. Three types of high-Q filter based clock recovery circuits are considered: without pre-processing circuits that can be used for RZ format and with an edge detector or a squarer pre-processing circuits suitable for NRZ format. Moreover, this technique can be used to monitor chromatic dispersion and a large monitoring range of more than 1750ps/nm is experimentally demonstrated at 10Gbit/s. Since it can monitor PMD and dispersion, this method can be deployed to control dynamic PMD or dispersion compensators. Furthermore, this technique offers easy and quick inline eye mask testing and timing jitter assessment